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Far be it from me to steal keftiu's thunder, but I didn't see one of their signature Character Concept threads for this AP and since my spouse has decided they want to run this adventure I figure I'd be the first! We're still a ways out from starting (we're waiting for the Reign of Winter campaign I'm GMing to conclude first) but several of us have already started cooking up characters for the AP. Mine is Xanthe of Aelyosos, a minotaur Fighter/Kineticist originally from Iblydos (full stats to be completed once Howl of the Wild comes out) who was Myth-Spoken by the cyclops mummy known as Stone-Eye to become the latest hero-god of that island. Problem is...she completed her foretold quest, but no mythic power was forthcoming. Barely fighting down panic and an identity crisis, she joins in on the campaign to "correct" her fate and obtain the demidivinity she feels is her due. I'll find out as the campaign goes on whether she overcomes that urge.
I'm delighted by this, I've said for years now that Starfinder with PF2e action economy and willingness to Let Martials Be Cool would be phenomenal. My hope is that one of SF2e's contributions is vehicles getting better integrated into the game because mechas/chases/fights involving vehicles are tropes in fantasy & scifi genres and its something PF2e is a bit weak on right now. Not really interested in the whinging ITT, grognards gonna grognard and there's not a damn thing to be done about it.
For myself I'd say: strongest is Cheliax, by a less wide margin after the events of Skull & Shackles but they're still #1 in the Inner Sea. #2 is probably Taldor or Qadira but mostly these are aimed at each other and have less left over to make the Inner Sea their lake. Andoran comes in next, then I would guess a sizable gap before Osirion. Another sizable gap before you reach Rahadoum, and another still to get the Thuvia. Absalom has just enough nave to make law enforcement feasible in their claimed waters & to stop anyone from getting funny ideas but their main levers of influence are economic and political.
I actually had a very similar idea about Aroden, but I did have him act to unravel Fate--as its mistress I feel like Pharasma wouldn't be responsible for its destruction, she'd accept Aroden's survival or destruction as necessary. Instead, I decided Aroden discovered something he wasn't supposed to and that's why he left Golarion--he spent that century at the drawing board cooking up and then discarding innumerable plans to avert this mysterious-but-dire fate...before ultimately realizing that the very nature of Fate made it unavoidable. So he yeeted himself into Azathoth and was unmade entirely. The ripple effects of this broke Fate and has caused enormous multiversal destruction but also offers a chance at avoiding whatever Fate he foresaw. Haven't really decided what awful thing he discovered though. Leaning towards it being that this cycle of reality would be the last; for whatever reason there wouldn't be a Survivor this time and since he was doomed anyway his death by Azathoth isn't really that much of a lift. Come to think of it, that reason does give Pharasma a good rationale to have manipulated him into it...
I have a lot of favorites even in just the LG category (best alignment represent!) but if I had to pick one it'd be Kelinahat, She of Ebon Wings. Unfortunately she's gotten very little lore and canonical attention but Heaven's spymistress is a very cool vibe and subverts a lot of LG stereotypes. Lawful Good has an affirmative vision of what a just society should look like and a lot/most of it doesn't involve crusades and holy war; deception, intrigue, espionage, politics, etc are tools in the toolbox for building a better world and it's cool that Kelinahat isn't afraid to use them. My "War for the Crown" inquisitor worships her and is one of my favorite characters I've made. Honorable mention goes to Gruhastha, Angradd, and Ragathiel.
Norse would fit the neighbouring Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and the Giant gods are based on the Jotnar, but I think Canaanite/Levantine and Greek would be more thematically appropriate to Casmaron since that's where the equivalents to their real-life counterparts lie. Irrisen is more Russian-flavoured, and if there is something new it should draw from the rich cultural traditions it has to draw from. I'm mostly being facetious since we already have the full Egyptian pantheon (precedent set) and part of Reign of Winter's book 5 conceit is the PCs visit an Earth virtually identical to our irl Earth. And delving into questions of Earth's religions and how, say, Yahweh fits into the PF cosmology seems like the kind of thing Paizo might prefer avoid but that's neither here nor there. Does the Russian Orthodox deity the Romanovs worshipped have any connection to the war god of the OT? I dunno, it doesn't seem like the sort of question that would enrich Pathfinder by being answered, but Anastasia is the queen of Irrisen so the odds of it coming up are not zero. I do actually want to see the Norse pantheon though, it's a fun corner of mythology and a tengu priest of Odin would be fun to play.
I'm awfully late to this particular discussion, but: Cheliax is great as a source of conflict for the setting, which means it should continue to be so. But as many others have noted it's taken a lot of losses lately; if you want it to continue to be a threat and not just a joke/punching bag it needs to have some wins & shake up the status quo in a way that creates adventure hooks and flashpoints. These can be big events that occur "off screen" like the Vidrian revolution, as long as it's clear that the forces of evil are not idle in Golarion, and heroes are needed. Cheliax burnishing its image by helping against Tar-Baphon is a great concept, and I like the twist of formally ending slavery only to trap people in insurmountable debt or other handles for social control. But Cheliax is also the Big Imperialist of the inner sea, and for that to work it has to be a military threat worth taking seriously. The way I square that circle comes from the Construct Handbook for 1e--it has a template called Hell Engine, which empowers golems or whatever via infernal power granted as a boon in a contract. This screams "Chelish rearmament" to me, and Cheliax fielding companies of infernally-powered clockwork soldiers as shock troops feels thematic in a variety of ways. After all, Hell (like any loan shark worth the name) is naturally happy to help Cheliax out of their current pickle with an infusion of hellish golems, just sign on the dotted line! Cheliax gets a suite of impressive new weapons for intimidation and keeping their grip on power; they can even dispatch some of these as a token force to the Gravelands to mulch zombies and generate good PR. You could also have Mammon take a more active hand, since trade and wealth opens a lot of doors and fabulously wealthy diabolists who use their connections to collect/call in favors or gain legal carveouts for their special interests is an angle. Heck, combine the two: Cheliax gets their hooks to their neighbors with, like, a line of hellforged tractors or something. Making themselves ever more indispensible to their neighbors' economies is a great way to add some quandries to a diabolists-need-punching scenario. As far as the rest of the region goes, I'm not really sure what should be done with Nidal--it's a shadowy land of evil directly beholden to Zon-Kuthon and it's seemingly not eager to become expansionistic or otherwise generate large plot hooks. Isger seems ripe for cloak-and-dagger influence struggles between Cheliax, Andoran, and Molthune. The whole region revolves around Cheliax, and honestly that's alright.
I don't think the Ulfen need an off-brand Norse pantheon; if the core deities don't feel quite right (Gorum & Desna make sense to me) but there are plenty of demigods who could be fleshed out--empyreal lords, ushers, and a handful of thematic demonic lords/daemonic harbingers would be welcome. I also had ancestor-focused "barrow cults" who focused on Urgathoa's War aspect, and could call upon the interred wights and draugr of their ancestors. I admit I don't have any strong feelings for Varisia; Irrisen under its new queen is ripe for some wonderful political intrigue; the Realm of the Mammoth Lords got a solid treatment recently. It's the Land of the Linnorm King that is really crying out for a more nuanced treatment imo. I don't know how Paizo plans to do it, but for myself I expanded the diversity of the region--humans are joined to a greater degree by elves, dwarves, frostcrag orcs, giantkin (firbolg, ogres, and trollkin mostly), tengu, and lycanthropes. Since the LotLK is also bordered by highly magical neighbors I made the Ulfen a culture that produces unusually high numbers of kineticists. Air/Water masters can make their longships shockingly fast and maneuverable; Fire/Lightning wielders are the equal of any southern longship boasting catapults or cannon; Stone, Metal, and Wood shapers are craftsfolk par excellence whose services are in high demand. For me this helps give them a distinct flavor that could still plausibly fend off their caster-heavy neighbors. I also have the Saga Lands' various true giants as neighboring realms who are no less engaged via trade & politics than any other polity.
1. SOUTHERN GARUND, anything set here really. Please, please I'm begging, I want my catfolk city-state and lizardfolk Dinotopia and beautiful, glorious Holomog. I'm down on my knees here, Paizo! 2. I'd like to see something done with intrigue & conflict in Brevoy; it's been totally-teetering-on-civil-war for too long and a resolution would be nice. Lots of different places it could be taken that I'd be happy with. Seems good for an 11-20 if Choral gets involved, or a 1-10 focused more on intrigue. 3. Flying cities and floating islands are a fantasy trope that doesn't really exist in Golarion, but they used to and it'd be cool to see this make a comeback. That's why we should get an adventure that features Yjae, the last Shory city! This also gets to star Denizens of Leng and Oni as its villains, and explore another corner of Golarion. 4. Land of the Linnorm Kings deserves something suitably epic; Vikings' cultural moment is finally winding down (which is good, we've hit over-saturation imo) but something 1-20 heavily featuring fey & the First World is where I'd take it.
I don't have much to add here that others haven't, but my major changes: 1) far less humanocentric, in the sense that the major nations of the Inner Sea have waaay more nonhumans in them and this is considered normal because it's always been that way. Giants, kobolds, goblins, firbolgs, and lycanthropes in particular are not random encounter material but often long-established citizens of various nations, or recognized holders of their own fiefdoms that engage in trade/intrigue/conflict with their neighbors like any other polity. 2) Firearms are more common (radiating out primarily from Alkenstar, the Shackles, Irrisen, Ustalav, and Oprak) with clockpunk in particular becoming more and more common in those specific areas. My "pirate party" campaign had a ship that could fly thanks to a genie wish and they weren't subtle about it, so rigid-framed airships are becoming popular as other powerful leaders see the Queen of Disaster and wonder why they don't have a flying ship too! And once one area has them, everyone else gets in on it as well. 3) space-fantasy connections in the sense of witchwyrds with void-capable vessels seeking out trading partners, and Verces is also building their own such vessels. Triaxus is going to have an industrial revolution soon. 4) currently GMing a Reign of Winter campaign, and I'm not at all certain Irrisen's fate will match the Lost Omens canon; I think it was a wasted opportunity not to make a larger change there. 5) I also have Yggdrasil, though it's more fey/First World flavored! I like the concept of the irminsul, but the statblock execution was atrocious--so I use them as living site of connection to the World Tree. And I reeeeaaaaallllyyy want to run some adventures in southern Garund, the part of the continent Paizo hasn't visited yet. I keep hoping they'll give us more than the bare hints we've gotten so far.
I have an adventure I'm working on (hoping to publish on Infinite before the end of the summer) involving open warfare against an increasingly well-organized undead presence in the Gravelands. Their main opposition is the Encarthan Coalition (Oprak, Nirmathas, Molthune, Kraggodan/Janderhoff, and the Knights of Lastwall). The adventure is intended to open in the face of a Coalition defeat at undead hands, and the party must struggle to keep the fractious alliance together while still halting the undead counterattack. While it does have a strong military theme, I'm trying hard to make certain that it doesn't feel narrow in its options, and it seems like a great chance to utilize the vehicle rules to boot. Still working on the party itself, but I'll try to post something by tomorrow!
I don't think you need to get that complicated with it; if you're wanting to keep a high-fantasy vibe the regular firearms would suffice, or the Modern Firearms if you're feeling spicy. Otherwise, the Technology Guide has most of what you described, just eliminate the Timeworn drawbacks and lower the barrier to use and you're frosty!
I was in the 6th grade and had a crush on a girl who was too old for me, but she was very nice to the weird kid and taught me the rules for D&D 3.5 and explained Forgotten Realms lore to me. Been playing since. I've played DnD 3.0 and onward, both Pathfinders of course, plus (to a much lesser degree) Blades in the Dark, Lancer, MotW, Only War, Symbaroum, Expanse RPG/AGE, and Starfinder. I've definitely had a strong urge to play something different mechanically & thematically from my usual PF high-fantasy fare
I'm interested in submitted an elven Fighter/Cavalier who fights with shield & dueling blade (and Uncommon option) and has a Riding Drake mount (another Uncommon option), would this be permissible GM? Background: Dreams of Vengeance For myself as a player, I've been active on the boards for 6+ years and quite active, and I'm a committed roleplayer. I'd point towards my War for the Crown campaign as one of my current favorites and very RP-heavy. I'm Marius Erallan.
Delighted to be seeing more PF2e interest here on the boards! I salute you, DM DoctorEvil, for wanting to take on converting an AP. It's not a staggering amount of work, but it's far from nothing either. I have the big Abomination Vaults tome that I've been considering running, but I'm not sure I can do it justice with the other games I'm playing/running right now. One on the boards, another IRL.
Well the easiest answer there is that "spell slots" is an abstraction for the sake of gameplay, not a worldbuilding point. There's a reason no caster characters in Pathfinder (or almost all other fantasy) fiction refer to their spells in those terms. They don't exist in the game world in that way. For worldbuilding explanations, you could say a sorcerer gets more and more skilled at casting a spell, especially the ones they learned early (Magic Missile, Invisibility, etc) so simpler spells get easier to cast while strong spells are still much more difficult. For a wizard or magus, it's not that they "forget" the spell, it's that the movements and incantations are no longer charged with magic. Their spell prep is akin to loading bullets into a magazine; when it's fired you don't forget what a bullet is, but that one's gone and you'll have to reload to get another. Forgotten Realms has something called "The Weave" which is essentially a magical matrix layered over all of creation and is maintained by the deities of magic (Mystryl/Mystra mostly, on Toril). You draw from the Weave to cast spells kind of like drawing from a power grid.
Very interested, always on the hunt for more PF2e to play. Concept: Vuzzik the Oath-Witch (NG goblin Rogue/Pact Binder) one of the Crooktoes tribe who led Watcher Lord Ulthun to safety and followed him to Absalom. Desperate to win his approval but not well suited for being a knight, Vuzzik joined the city watch and is always on the hunt for good deeds to include in his weekly fan-letters ("If writin'z good enuf for Uttun, s'good enuf for Vuzzik!"). He's always had a strange, uncanny tie to spirits and entities from the Great Beyond, and a knack for dealing with them--skills that now help him solve crimes instead of merely finding food and a safe place to sleep. Grizzled Muckraker background, I think. Since Pack Binder is Uncommon I would of course require GM permission.
@Ghost of War: I played Ashora Kail back when you started the campaign, I'd love to be added back to your waitlist. @LastGhost I'm also not opposed to doing a "game swap", though I'm more interested in running something like Icon, Godbound, or Blades in the Dark personally. I recently attempted to run a Lancer game on these boards but it didn't work out.
Aevar Howen: NG m pitborn (human tiefling) Cavalier4; 45hp, F +8, R +3, W +5, Ini +4; Spd20 (30 base)
Aevar was, to the best any of the priests and mages who've examined him can tell, simply the unfortunate victim of the powerful magics shedding from a decaying mythal deep in the Cormanthor Forest. Despite his horns and glowing green eyes, however, he is a veteran in good standing amongst the Riders of Mistledale.
I have played & run Only War games; never played Deathwatch, Dark Heresy, or Wrath & Glory but own the books. Also picked up a Blades in the Dark hack that is 40k/Inquisition themed. There's a long-running Only War campaign here on the boards called "Welcome to the Guard" that I used to play in but unfortunately had to drop, I think it's still going though. @Wanderer82 I would be interested in playing some DH2 if you did decide to run it, I've heard its the best-designed of all the FFG 40k rpgs.
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